Lending grows at GSB as mutual gains ground with FHBs

Broker-originated loans accounted for just over 80 per cent of GSB’s home lending during the year, with active brokers submitting an average of around five deals each, according to the bank.

“The bank recognises that brokers are extremely important to its success, acknowledging that over 80 per cent of home loan customers across Australia are utilising brokers,” GSB told The Adviser.

FHB focus outpaces market position

The lender’s housing focus was most evident in the FHB segment.

GSB revealed that it assisted more than 14,000 Australians with home loans in FY26 and accounted for around 3 per cent of the national FHB market, a share it said was more than three times larger than its overall presence in the mortgage market.

GSB’s FY26 result follows a first half in which it had already reported home-lending growth ahead of system growth and a strong contribution from broker-originated mortgages.

CEO Paul Lewis said the lender’s greater representation among FHBs reflected its purpose as a customer-owned institution.

“Home ownership remains at the heart of our purpose,” Lewis said.

“Supporting a share of Australia’s first home buyers substantially greater than our overall market share is something we’re particularly proud of. It tells us that our purpose is translating into real outcomes for Australians.”

Profitability also strengthened alongside the expansion in lending, with net profit after tax increasing by 27.3 per cent to $55 million.

Lewis said the year’s performance was significant as it extended beyond a single financial measure.

“This was a very strong year for Great Southern Bank – not because of any single result, but because we performed well across virtually every dimension of the bank,” Lewis said.

“We grew home lending and deposits strongly, increased profitability, welcomed more customers and improved customer advocacy. At the same time, we continued to invest significantly in the capabilities that will make us a better bank in the future.

“For a customer-owned bank, these things belong together. Sustainable profitability allows us to keep investing in better products, technology and service while delivering genuine value for our customers.”

The lender’s active customer base, including small-business customers, increased by more than 12,500 to exceed 434,400 during FY26.

Its active small-business customer base also rose above 5,500.

GSB completes data overhaul

Alongside its lending growth, GSB completed a multi-year overhaul of its enterprise-data capability, migrating its enterprise data to Databricks and implementing Unity Catalog.

“The transformation gives Great Southern Bank a modern, governed enterprise data foundation that supports faster decision making, improved customer experiences and greater personalisation, while establishing the infrastructure required to responsibly scale advanced analytics and AI,” GSB said.

Lewis said the completed program would provide employees access to more reliable data and support future service improvements.

“Completing our data transformation is an important milestone. It gives our people better access to trusted data and creates a foundation from which we can increasingly use data and AI to improve how we serve customers,” the CEO said.

[Related: Borrowers lean on brokers for end-to-end support and clarity]